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A very quiet disclaimer

LondonJazz is a not-for profit venture, but may occasionally take on work as a paid publicist and/or sell advertising packages. Where a piece published after 26th October 2012 appears which is linked to this activity, the text will be followed by the following symbol: (pp)

The great African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim started
his career as Dollar Brand and it was under this name that he recorded a live
solo piano set in October 1969 at the ‘Montmartre’ Jazzhus in Copenhagen.
The gig was first released by a Scandinavian label (Spectator Records) in 1970, then by the German Japo label, effectively a mail order division of ECM, before being subsumed into the ECM catalogue proper. And it is ECM from whom it now appears in a new high quality vinyl version.

It’s remarkable how much of Abdullah Ibrahim’s character comes
over in the simplest of materials. From the very opening chords of the opening
track Bra Joe From Kilimanjaro, this is unmistakably Ibrahim playing —
rolling musically, staking out territory with ringing commentary and gradually
establishing supremacy over the café conversation at the Jazzhus which soon
falls respectfully silent. Swirling scales spread out like glittering tributaries of a
river and swift rhythmic runs descend like waterfalls. The piece comes to a
contemplative conclusion which is both precise and spacious. Ibrahim’s playing
is continuous and without appreciable pause and we flow swiftly through the brief
second track whose title is almost longer than its duration — Selby That the
Eternal Spirit is the Only Reality. Then we are into the crowded rhythm of
The Moon, a tour de force which dominates Side 1 of the album. Dense
exposition yields to jaunty celebration and soon we’re chiming and churning, a
runaway train through the African landscape. This tune is a benign juggernaut
hurtling to a joyful destination. Ibrahim goes right past the stop signal, straight
into the final tune of the first side, Xaba with bright right hand block
chords suggesting token attempts at braking the express. But the wheels slow,
the steam subsides and Abdullah Ibrahim’s piano fades out.

Although Side 2 nominally begins with a new track, Sunset in Blue, it sounds like a straight fade up of Side 1, with a cheerful lilting theme. The
relentless, melodic excursion slows to a thoughtful lyricism in the shape of the
slipping, slow and delicate Kippy, a pondering, poetic meditation with
clean, open chords and a lot of space. The album wraps up with the infectious
affirmation of Tintiyana, a sunny Sunday-go-to-church piece.

The ECM publicity notes for this valuable reissue advise that “the flavour
of this album is ‘documentary’ rather than luxuriantly hi-fidelity.” But there’s no
need for apologies or caveats; the sound is lovely, immediate and alive, the
piano sharp, clean-cut and resonant (vastly better than, say, the tragically muffed
piano miking of Duke Ellington on Money Jungle by a major label some
years earlier). This is a great sound document catching the then Dollar Brand at
his raw and virile best.